Schools

School District Doesn't Support State's Race to the Top Application

Superintendent: 'A couple of things are disconcerting.'

The School District of the Chathams has not signed on to the state's application for a federal Race to the Top grant, as officials have called the program "ridiculous."

Superintendent Jim O'Neill said late last week that the district will not support the state's application, which means it would likely not receive any money if the state wins the grant.

Race to the Top is the Obama administration's $4.35 billion education reform incentive program. It grants hundreds of millions of dollars to state's agreeing to implement reforms. State applications are judged on a number of factors including assessment standards, school choice issues, charter school numbers and teacher performance. In the first round, which New Jersey lost, winning grants were given to Tennessee and Delaware.

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If it wins the second round, New Jersey would receive $400 million in federal funds. Half of that amount would be made available to federal Title I districts, which are defined as those with students receiving free school lunches provided by the federal government.

O'Neill said the school district does not fit into that category. He also said he has lots of issues with the state's application and with the program.

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"A couple of things are disconcerting," he said. "Some of them, I think, with collaboration, could have been worked out."

The state is proposing financial incentives for teachers with tenure who volunteer to teach in failing districts. O'Neill said if Chatham teachers take advantage of those incentives, it would make it hard for the school district to retain good teachers.

The district pays for many of the teachers to go to courses to receive tenure, and if they leave the school district to teach elsewhere, the district would likely need to hire a full-time substitute to fill the position. According to O'Neill, such an arrangement would be "a calamity."

"For them to go elsewhere and retain their tenure is, in many ways, a ridiculous request to make," he said.

The state is also looking to implement a merit-based pay structure which would reward teachers for student achievement on state-administered assessments. But O'Neill said the state has never given good feedback for teachers after its testing has been completed, and said it would be unfair for the district to sign on to such a program because of that.

If the state wins the grant, it has said it will give $100,000 to districts that sign on to the plan. But O'Neill said it might not be worth it.

"We were concerned we would spend more time and money than the $100,000 we might get," he said.

Westfield Patch editor John Celock contributed reporting.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here